Warehouse fire a criminal investigation

Cornwall firefighters arrive on scene at this fire at an abandoned warehouse on Tenth Street East. It took nearly two hours to put out the flames. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)

CORNWALL – A fire at an abandoned warehouse in the city’s east end has been turned over to Cornwall police as a criminal investigation.

Cornwall firefighters were called just after 10 p.m. to a property in the 800 block of Tenth Street East, just east of Emard Brothers Lumber.

A giant shower of sparks fill the night sky during this warehouse fire on Tenth Street East on March 15, 2015. City police are investigating. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)
When firefighters got to the location, known to locals as the former Shell Canada property, one of the two buildings was engulfed in flames.

There were eight men and three fire trucks on the scene and resources were stretched as another firefighting crew was dealing with a grease fire on a stove at a Riverdale home at the same time.

A section of security fence had to be cut down to allow firefighters to get into the property.

While firefighters tore down and cut through boarded-up windows and doors with chainsaws, as many as five Cornwall police officers were searching tracks in the snow to the larger outbuilding on the property.

Then they conducted a grid search of the entire scene before marking off evidence with two orange road cones about 20 feet (6 meters) from the burnt-out building.

Police investigators came just before midnight to photograph the evidence.

There were no reported injuries associated with the fire.

A portion of Tenth Street East, east of McConnell Avenue, has been closed to traffic and is expected to be closed to traffic overnight and possibly Monday morning as police hold the scene.

Click on the one of the photos below to open a gallery of images.

Flames shoot from this abandoned warehouse on Tenth Street East on March 15, 2015. Police have secured the scene and the fire is being treated as suspicious. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)

Cornwall firefighters pry boards off this abandoned building on Tenth Street East on March 15, 2015. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)

A firefighter uses a chainsaw to cut into a boarded-up door on this building at an abandoned warehouse on Tenth Street East on March 15, 2015. Police are investigating the fire. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)

Four Cornwall police officers perform a grid search on the former Shell property on Tenth Street East after a fire Sunday night, March 15, 2015. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)

A police officer finds something in the snow about 20 feet (6 meters) from the fire sight on Tenth Street East. Officers later marked it with orange cones until police photographers could get to the scene. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)

Four Cornwall police officers keep watch over the evidence at a warehouse fire on Tenth Street East on March 15, 2015. The evidence is marked with orange road cones. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)

An investigator with the Cornwall Community Police Service photographs evidence in the snow about 20 feet (6 meters) from the sight of a fire at an abandoned warehouse on Tenth Street East on March 15, 2015. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)